758 J OVRNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



A bright, orange coloured beetle is sometimes seen about at the opening 

 of the season, and this is fairly well represented by the " Challoner," a fly 

 much valued on Loch Awe, where it was introduced by an old Parson of 

 that name fifty years ago. The red and teal and red body with the 

 Heckham Peckham wing are both good flies in the early season, 

 but what they resemble in nature, I have not yet found out. There are 

 so many black flies of sorts about all the year round that it is decidedlj' 

 wise to have one on the cast. Black Palmer, Zulu, black and teal, black 

 and mallard, black and woodcock wing all have their votaries, but pro- 

 bably Watson's Fancy is better than any of these out here. The fly was 

 so called by a Scotch fishing tackle maker named Watson who has adver- 

 tised it, but was known years earlier on Tweedside as " the wee black 

 deevil" and in Ireland as " the Connemara black." Another useful 

 fly with a black wing and silver body is the "butcher". Personally, out 

 here, 1 preffer this fly dressed with a feather from the blue black of a 

 duck's wing, and thus dressed it closely resembles a small beetle which 

 is always in great numbers on the bushes and plants of some of the 

 streams. I have seen this beetle in nearly every month of the fishing season, 

 and where I see it, I put the fly on. At times I have seen ladybirds in 

 considerable numbers by the waterside, and have found the " Cock i 

 Bhondhu " a killing fly at such times, but I have never seen the true 

 bracken clock out here, and the fly is not always a killer. The " Soldier 

 Palmer" is a good fly in the early part of the season, but the red palmer 

 and the worm fly are better in May and June. Another hackle fly which 1 

 have seen do well on the Budwan stream in August is known as the dotterell, 

 and probably like the Palmers, is taken for some kind of caterpillar. There 

 is no doubt that when such are about, a fly which looks fairly like them in 

 the water proves attractive. 



Another spring fly with which I have had considerable success is a color- 

 able imitation of the fresh water shrimp {Gammerus 2}ulex) which Hardy 

 dr»!ssed for me. It is a fly I do not use regularly, generally putting it on 

 when there is not much doing, and this may be the reason I have caught 

 trout in rather poor condition when using it. 



With warmer weather a lot of flies with green and yellow bodies hatch 

 out, and there are times Avhen trout will hardly look at anything else. As 

 to the shade of body and wing to be used, one has to be guided a good deal 

 by the flies one sees. Probably the best all round green fly is the green 

 and woodcock wing, but the teal wing comes very near it. At times I 

 prefer the blue or the mallard wing and the heckham peckham wing also has 

 it's day. When the green flies are really about, I have occasionally fished 

 green bodies only with difl'erent wings and hackles, and have been satisfied 

 with the result. The great green beetle comes out in June, and the 

 Moonal imitation can at times be very eft'ective. 



One of the best flies from the beginning of the season is the blae wing 

 and blue body, though there are days later on when the old blae and black 

 is equally effective. I have also found a bright little Zulu useful in May, 

 but it is not a certain killer. Yellow bodied flies seem specially attractive 

 in streams which come through a forest countrj', and this is no doubt due 

 to the presence of one specially fat bodied fly which is rather a heavy 

 flier and often copies down on the water from overhanging branches. 

 A dark mallard or dark teal wing most closely resembles that of the fly, 

 but the woodcock wing seems to serve the purpose, and may possibly, 

 from the trout's point of view, be more like it. The March brown is pro- 

 bably the best known fly in the British list, and out here all the various 

 dressings including the Irish variation, the Invicta, at times kill well. 

 In saying this, I should remind the reader that I am dealing with wet flies 



